Different Easter Tales
by SarahLou
Summary: The RENTers celebrate Easter and passover in different ways. This fic takes place when they're youngish. FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1

Author notes: It's been awhile since I've written. This is my first RENTfic so be easy on me…okay? It's an easter-ish fic. Oh, and there are no certain ages for the kids. They're in between the ages of like 7 and 13…yeah.

Rating: g-pg

Pairing: none

Summary: It's Easter/Passover for the RENTers.

Disclaimer: We can all hope and dream, but alas it's all Jonathon's.

Benny hated going to church on Easter Sunday. It wasn't that he didn't like Jesus, but he couldn't see the preacher past the ladies with the big hats, and his suit was killing him. It was about 80 degrees in the chapel, or at least it felt like it. His mom wasn't making things any better. She kept on telling him to straighten his tie and to pay attention, which was impossible since he couldn't see what he was supposed to be paying attention to. To cure his boredom, little Benny resolved to drawing pictures of skyscrapers bearing the name "Benjamin Coffin and co." on them. After the church service his parents were talking non-stop about the preacher's message and how fantastic it was to see the Grey's there. Benny had no idea who they were but they sounded important.

* * *

Mark Cohen pressed his face up to the living room window. He was so jealous of the little boys and girls playing with their chalk and toy bunnies, which they got in their Easter baskets, no doubt.

"Mark, get away from that window it's time for Seder… Mark! Come here. Oh my, you've ruined your hair, here let me fix that" Mrs. Cohen blabbered as she pulled her 8 year old son from the window. His face left a large imprint.

"Mom, how come I can't celebrate Easter too?" Mark whined.

"Because you're Jewish, sweetie. We've been over this a hundred times. We celebrate Passover."

"Fine", Mark sighed as he sat down at the table in between his sister and mom. Wishing he could be playing outside with all of the other kids.

* * *

Lola Marquez tried in vain to brush her daughter's hair. Mimi's hair was a jungle compared to regular hair. It was her fault too. She never brushed it and after hours on end of playing outside with the kids on the street the curls would turn into frizz. Mimi's squirming wasn't making the job any easier.

"Mama I don't care what my hair looks like I just want to go and watch TV! Madonna's new music video is on!"

"Okay, go." Lola said, defeated. Mimi ran back to the TV and was immersed in Madonna's voice and dance moves. Lola felt like the worst mother in the world. She couldn't even afford to buy her daughter Jellybeans much less an Easter basket. Mimi didn't look too disappointed, though. This wasn't the first East that Mimi had gone without, and it wouldn't be her last.

Mama, when I get older do you think I'll be as beautiful as Madonna?" Mimi asked hopefully from the living room, her eyes glued to the screen.

"Chicka, you can be anything you want to be."

* * *

Tom Collins loved Easter. Not only was he able to load up on candy but he also usually got a new robot toy that he could disassemble and then put back together as he saw fit. The only problem was that he didn't have anybody who wanted to help him on his robot adventures. Everybody else was playing with jump ropes or Tonka trucks. Tom knew he was different. When he started reading at age 4 and doing multiplication by age 5 he knew he was special. He wished he could have a group of friends that could look past his specialness and like him for who he was. Until then, it was just him and his toy robots, and that was enough.

* * *

Maureen Johnson was bored out of her mind. She was so beyond these kids in her Sunday school class. Mrs. Jones's voice was blurred out of Maureen's mind as she stared at Freddy Saturn, the cutest kid in her class. She wanted to impress him, but how? 'A song should do it', she said in her mind. In a matter of seconds Maureen was on top a chair, shushing everybody around her.

"Now, I know we all find Mrs. Jones's comparison between Jesus and the Easter bunny entertaining, but, I have a better way of learning about the resurrection." Without thinking, Maureen started shouting in a singsong voice:

_"Once…Upon…a time… there was a lady…named Mary. She was pretty awesome. She got knocked up by the spirit and had a baby, named Jesus. He was also pretty awesome_._"_

Mrs. Jones stared at Maureen in what was a mixture of awe and disgust, too shocked to do anything. The kids stared at Maureen in admiration.

_"Now, Jesus wasn't just one of the coolest people to ever walk this Earth, but he also could do something alcoholics all over the world today would kill to do. He could turn WATER into WINE. Not only that, but he resisted the devil's temptation for 40 freakin' days! And Satan offered Jesus some pretty rad stuff too_._"_

Mrs. Jones had finally come to her senses and was trying to pull Maureen off the chair; however, the little girl resisted and continued bellowing.

_"And, let's not forget my peers, that Jesus also did the COOLEST thing of all when he died on the cross! Let's give it up for the big J.C.!"_

The entire class clapped and whistled as Maureen was yanked off the chair and pulled over to her parents in the chapel during the Easter church service.

"Mrs. Johnson, I don't know what you teach your daughter at home about etiquette, or if you taught her anything at all! But please do not bring her back into my classroom until she learns to control her urges to create anarchy and disorder in my Sunday school classroom!"

* * *

Roger Davis was locked up in his room. Clad in plaid pajama pants and a beat up ac/dc shirt. Easter didn't really matter to him. It was like all of the other holidays. He would put on a nice shirt and pants, greet his extended family with the same fake smile and then go up to his room and hide away. He had been doing it since he was little. The solitude of his room was far more comforting than any family get-together. It wasn't that he didn't like people; he just hated the hypocrisy and fakeness of it all. Whereas his guitar was real, he could hold it in his hands and it would do exactly what he told it to. If he wanted to play a sad song, he could do it. If he wanted to play a power ballad then there was nobody to tell him otherwise. He couldn't wait until he was old enough to finally leave this town and head to New York City.

* * *

Little Angel was definitely had a knack for making things beautiful. He could see the ugliest thing and make glimmer and glitter with just the touch of a flower or the pinch of a smile. When he received his Easter basket that morning he had arranged all of the candy so that it surrounded the huge plush bunny that sat in the green plastic grass. It was like the bunny was in a dreamland of chocolate and jellybeans. He admired his work and when he showed it to his mom she smiled with pride. However, his dad looked at him with a grimace and said

"When are you going to start acting like a boy?"

Angel never decorated his Easter basked again.

* * *

"Kitten, don't eat too much candy or you'll spoil your dinner!" Mr. Jefferson said, laughing at his daughter who had chocolate smeared all over her face.

"Sorry dad!" she said hurriedly trying to wipe the chocolate off of her mouth.

Mr. Jefferson knew his daughter was born to win. She had the same sort of spirit and spunk that his wife had towards life and Easter was no exception. When Joanne had received her Easter basked she had lined up the candy from biggest to smallest. She even color coded the jellybeans. She always saved the Cadbury eggs for last though. Yes sir, his Joanne was never going to be a failure. She was going to live in a nice upstate New York home, get married, and have lots of little Joanne's running around.

* * *

a/n: what do you think? I hope nobody gets offended with Maureen's song, it was just something I could imagine Maureen doing. And I don't know if she's Christian or not, I know Idina Menzel is Jewish…oh well. Constructive Criticism is always appreciated. I may write more chapters for when they get older…who knows. 


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: it was nice to get such a good response from the first chapter. I forgot how much of a awesome fandom you guys were. I'm not happy with this chapter at all so I don't expect great response. I had trouble writing most of it but I felt like a one-shot would have been really cheap. So this is part 2 of 3

Disclaimer: not mine, only borrowing.

* * *

Mimi Marquez never liked Easter very much. She never knew the joys that an Easter basket brought and never got to enjoy a strawberry jellybean (something she had always wanted to try). She had decided to put her childhood behind her and ran away less than a year ago. This was going to be her first Easter alone and even though she hated the holiday, she missed her mom. Her mom could make what seemed to be the worst thing in the world not that bad. Whether it was being dumped or getting a bad grade. But now, Mimi was on her own. It was cold, dark and rainy, and when you're living on the street that's not good.

"Hey, kid." A voice said somewhere in the dark

"I'm not a hooker." Mimi said immediately.

"I never said you were, come here I wanna give you something."

"What is it?"

"Ever heard of smack?"

"No."

"Well, for a small price it can make all your troubles disappear."

* * *

Angel was quite nervous. She walked down the stairs; well, actually she tripped down the stairs, in her new pair of pink platform shoes. It was Easter dinner at the Schunard house and the entire family was going to be there. Angel thought that this was going to be the perfect opportunity to tell everybody about her decision. Still, she was really nervous, even if she did look beautiful.

"You'll do fine" she told herself.

She was dolled up in a glittery purple skirt and green top (to show the Easter spirit.) It was her first time in drag and she didn't know how her family, especially her dad, was going to take it. When she finally sat down at the table Angel's mom smiled at her reassuringly. Nobody spoke for a minute, and then Angel's dad said in a calm and menacing voice "Get out. Pack your things and leave."

* * *

Mark had his face pressed nervously by the front window of his house. It was the day before the last night of Passover and he was nervously waiting for his acceptance letter to Brown University, at least he hoped he was accepted. He didn't see a reason to why he shouldn't be.

"Mark, get away from the window, oh you smudged it!" Mrs. Cohen chirped as she came into the living room.

"Are you sure there was no mail from yesterday?" Mark asked desperately, it was nearing the end of his Senior year and if he didn't get accepted into a college soon he was going to have to go to Scarsdale Community College.

"I don't know I didn't check, why don't you go look?" Mrs. Cohen said irritably.

_…about five minutes later…_

"MOM! MOM! I GOT IN! It says my roommate is Benjamin Coffin the 3rd. I wonder who that is…"

"Shhh! Not now, honey, Buzzline's on!"

"That show's so sleazy."

* * *

Benny Coffin was in his room, he had just finished putting on a suit and tie and was making sure everything looked okay.

"Hey good lookin'" he said smugly as he winked into the mirror.

"Yeah right, who am I kidding?" he snorted, coming to himself.

This Easter was a very important Easter for the Coffin family. They were going to have very important guests tonight and Benny had to look and behave his best. This Easter could decide his family's legacy and his future in the outside world. The family that was joining them for dinner was supposed to be one of the richest in New York. So Benny couldn't really afford to mess this one up.

"Benny! The Grey's are here!"

* * *

Maureen had always loved Easter, granted, it was a boring holiday, but still, getting the candy and having family over was something she always enjoyed. She felt especially lucky to have a family to sit with on Easter. So when she saw what was on T.V. that night she got really, really angry.

"Hi! This is Rebecca Read with your Hicksville nightly news! Tonight is a special night for celebrating and time with family, but for a few of our neighbors in the lower east side it looks like it's not going to be a happy Easter after all. The police have been evicting homeless families from the abandoned houses in the lower east side, without any regard to the fact that it's Easter and about 40 degrees outside. Somebody needs to do something! Now to Richard Campbell with the nightly weather forecast!"

"How dare the police do that? Mom, dad, did you hear what's happening to those people! Somebody has to do something about this, it's just…terrible. I can't believe it! Someday, I'm going to fix this and everybody will be thankful for what I did, and not only will I be famous, but the homeless people will be happy again!"

* * *

Tom Collins had forgotten it was Easter. He was planning his trip to Rome and was so immersed in his plans that he had forgotten. He was sick of living in America. There were too many rules and he felt like he was suffocating. On his trip he was especially excited to see the Parthenon. He felt like he needed to do something new. He wouldn't exactly call himself a genius, but he knew he was meant for greater things. Collins got up, stretched and saw that he had a message on his answering machine.

"Hi, Tom, this is Bridgette from the local health clinic, we have your HIV test results and we would like you to come in so that we can discuss them as soon as possible, thanks!"

* * *

This was the happiest day of Joanne Jefferson's life. It was the last day of her last class at Harvard University. She was graduating a year early and she was going home to her parents for Easter. She was nervous to go home though. How was she going to tell her conservative Republican parents that she was a lesbian? Well, she hoped that they would accept her for what she was. She had done exactly what they wanted her to. She had straight A's all through school and she was one step away from becoming a lawyer. If her parents didn't accept her decision what was she going to do? They were what she fell back on. She didn't really have anybody else.

* * *

This was the worst Easter Roger had ever had. He was living in a crappy apartment with his band mates who kept on trying to get him to try heroin. He had been considering moving in with his new friend, Mark, who was living in an industrial loft. He was sure it was a lot better than this piece of shit place he was living in. All he really wanted was to be alone so that he could play his music and not be disturbed every five minutes.

"How the hell did I end up living like this?" he would often ask himself.

"Hey, Roger, your mmmmmooommm called again. Does somebody miss his mommy?"

a/n: yeah i know it's not that good. review though with some constructive criticism so i can make the next chapter better. thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: this is the replace of the original chapter 3. i took Tiggpwn's advice and took out a lot ofthe lines so that it would flow better. Thanks for reading my story!

Seven very different people sat down for Easter dinner together in an Industrial Loft on the corner of 11th and Avenue B. Mark Cohen had his face pressed up against the dirty glass window.

"Mark, he's not coming." Collins said, bitterly.

The smudged window went unnoticed.

* * *

Angel looked around at all of her friends. She was right between Mimi and Collins. They were the only two who knew just how quickly she was going to die, and that this was probably her last Easter. It was ironic that her last Easter was the first where she had felt loved and wanted by everybody who sat at the table. They didn't look at her funny or make snide remarks.

"I love the bunny ears, Angel." Maureen said as she passed around jellybeans to everybody.

"Actually, you know, Roger got them for me." Angel said, winking at Roger down the table, who shook his head in denial.

"Thanks, Maureen" Mimi said as she held out her hand for some of the jellybeans. She looked in her palm and saw different flavors, but not the one she had hoped for.

"Did anybody get a strawberry jellybean? I've never had one before."

"Are you serious?" Maureen asked, a seriously shocked look on her face.

"Yeah." Mimi said, getting a little defensive.

"Even Mark's had a strawberry jellybean! And he's Jewish!"

"Here, have mine." Joanne said graciously as she handed Mimi a handful of pink. "I always preferred sour apple over Strawberry anyway."

"Sour apple? That's the most boring flavor there is! Everybody loves sour apple!" Maureen said, rolling her eyes. She grabbed some ham and put it on her platter. She was trying to keep her cool with Joanne today, they had just gotten over another fight and she didn't want to start any trouble. Well, she thought she was doinggood until the jellybean remark.

Joanne was having such a good time that night she didn't even hear what Maureen had said. For the first time in her life she didn't care what people thought of her, or what she wore, or if there was a case she had to deal with the next week. She was free to be her true self and although it was new feeling, she liked it.

"Mark, do you want some juicy, delicious Easter ham?" Roger asked teasingly as he laughed at his poor friend, who was sulking while everybody ate.

"Oh that's right I forgot he can't celebrate Easter!" Mimi said, trying not to laugh.

"Aw, come on Roger; let him join in on the fun!" Collins said from across the table.

"I don't know." Mark said, feeling guilty.

"It's alright sweetie, we won't tell if you won't." Angel said reassuringly.

"Good because I'm starving." Mark said as he reached for his first ever Cadbury egg.

Tom Collins was feeling better than he had in a long time. He was stuffing his face full of ham, potatoes, and every kind of Easter candy you could imagine. Everybody had put their money together so that they could afford this one good meal. Things were getting sort of rocky between everybody so it was good to have at least one day where they could celebrate and get along without the arguing or the bullshit or the lies. And he was especially happy to be by his beautiful girlfriend, even if she was dying.

"Roger, can you pass me some more jellybeans?" Mimi asked from across the table. She was starting to look a little bit more thin than usual, but Roger pushed that out of his mind. She looked really pretty today and he was going to forget everything that happened between them. He was going to focus on today and make sure that he didn't say anything to hurt her. Today, Benny and the heroin didn't exist.

"Okay, well, I know it's Easter but I still thought Collins deserved something a little special. One day earlier this year he told me about how one of his Easter traditions was rewiring a toy robot that his parents would get him when he was little. Well, he's a little bit above toy robots so I went and had a mini ATM machine made for him to practice on with the rest of the money I got for killing that ugly dog. I know someday he's going to figure it out and we'll be richer than rich. And then we can move to, oh I don't know, somewhere like Santa Fe. So, here you go sweetie!"

"Well, I guess since Angel got me something, I should let you guys I got Mimi something. She told me how she never got an Easter basket when she was little…so…I took the liberty of making one for her." Collins said he pulled a huge Easter basket out from under the table. Filled with a stuffed bunny and basically everything that a really awesome Easter basket entails.

"Oh my Gosh, Collins you shouldn't have! I've never had an Easter Basket before!...but I didn't get you anything! I…well I actually got Joanne a new pair of leather pants because all of her clothes are so boring. I mean I know you like to wear suits and all that but, come on, every girl needs a pair of leather pants!" Mimi said as she ran downstairs to her apartment to get them.

"…wow…leather. Actually I got Mark an Easter basket. Because, you know, it's his first time being to celebrate Easter. I mean he can't really celebrate it but here you go Mark."

Another Easter basket: filled with chalk, an "Idiots guide to Easter", a stuffed Bunny with glasses and as a joke, some Matzah. Mark begrudgingly took the Easter basket, but he was laughing on the inside.

"Well… I mean I never got to celebrate Easter so I don't think this really counts as a gift but I actually got Maureen the lot space back so she can do another protest. Well... at least I think I got it back. Buzzline had some evidence about some illegal wrongdoings the cops had done and it's funny how a little blackmail can go a long way" Mark said sheepishly. Roger and Collins exchanged knowing glances as Maureen basically mauled Mark in excitement.

"Did I miss something?" Mimi asked, handing a pair of bright orange pants to Joanne.

"Nope!" everybody said in unison.

"Roger, I know you hate sentimental gifts, so, in honor of the Easter spirit, and because you really need them, I got you new guitar strings." Collins said, tossing them across the table to Roger who said a silent thank you at not receiving an Easter basket or a plush toy. Though he had to admit, seeing the look on Mimi's face as she got her first Easter basket was enough to make him a little bit emotional, but he would never show it.

"Guys, I feel so blessed to have friends like you." Mimi said, tearing up as she looked across the table at her best friends…no, her family.

"Let's make this the best Easter ever." Angel said as she stood up and went into the kitchen to pull a bottle of Absolut out of the cupboard.

"Amen to that." Joanne said as she followed Angel into the kitchen.

As everybody else left to go get wasted, only Mark and Roger were left in the dining room of the loft.

"This really was the best Easter ever." Mark said.

"Actually, this was your only Easter." Roger said, shaking his head and laughing, leaving for the kitchen.

* * *

Benjamin Coffin the third stood next to his wife at the Coffin family Easter dinner. They were getting ready to say grace.

"And thanks be to God for all of our friends and family on this special day." Mr. Grey said, his voice was putting everybody to sleep.

He felt a pang in his heart at how his poor friends were probably having the worst Easter ever, freezing in the loft. He was so glad he had moved on from those people who were less than he was.

* * *

The party in the loft was going on til 2 in the morning.

It really was the best Easter ever.


End file.
